belle epoque

Be very, very quiet. Shhh… the baby is sleeping soundly in the daytime, not in my arms in the rocking chair, for the first time since the day she turned a month old. Who knows how long it will last, so if this entry is cut short, you know why! Things will probably continue to be pretty quiet around here until she hits 12-14 weeks, which as you moms out there know is the magical age at which an immature digestion gets better and babies get on a more regular schedule. I’ve found I have a hard time reading my bloglines and no luck commenting on many blogs with my iPhone (which stays with me in the rocking chair at all times), so I’m sorry to have been a silent reader of your blogs as well. I’d love to see what you’re up to, so if you’re not already a contact of mine on Flickr please add me so I can browse your crafty goodness over there. Plus which I post pictures of wee miss beelypoke from the iPhone straight to Flickr, so you can see what is up with us if you are so inclined.

But before I get called away (or wailed away, really), I want to VERY belatedly announce the winner of the Bead Simple earring giveaway! Chosen by the highly scientific method of asking my mother to choose a number between 1-39, the chosen one is the lovely Leah of Creative Everyday! I’ll e-mail you for your address Leah, and send those earrings off when the little miss and I next take a walk to the Post Office.

And before I go I want to tell you about a crafty artist whose work I love– Jess Brown. Her art dolls are so beautiful and charming. Of course HMB (her majesty the baby), is not ready for something so gorgeous (the spit-up factor), but I’d love to have one of my own. Here is a speedily taken picture of two of her dolls at my favorite neighborhood store, Nest

And another from her site, used with her permission, of course
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I’ll try to pop in when I can, in the meantime I’m thinking crafty thoughts and reading your blogs and looking at your Flickr in the wee hours!

p.s. if you can think of anything crafty that can be done one-handed from a rocking chair, please let me know!

The wonderful Natalie came over to my house on Friday to join me dyeing Easter eggs old school– I bought multiple Paas kits (because just one color tablet in each cup does NOT cut it)

photo courtesy of Natalie
and we went nuts

I left two eggs raw so we could dye them and then blow them empty to keep. I decorated mine for wee miss S, to commemorate her first Easter. Now I just have to string a bow on the top for hanging next year–I’ve always wanted a little Easter tree. My favorite boiled egg is this one

A concept I stole from Natalie when she drew a super cute bunny on one of her eggs. I do love me a wax crayon when egg dyeing!

If you want to see more pictures from our egg dyeing adventures, check out Natalie’s flickr set! Hope you have a lovely day involving lots of chocolate and small, soft, yellow, fluffy things:

p.s. Thanks for all of your comments on the last post! You have until Tuesday to comment and enter to win the earrings! I’ll announce the winner on Wednesday.

Ok, *so* exciting. My contributor copies of Bead Simple arrived in the mail just a few days ago, and goodness, this book is gorgeous

My mom (who just left yesterday, wahhh!) was also blown away and kept thumbing through it saying “Oh! This book is so beautiful!”

I was so honored to be a contributor, and it is such fun to see the amazing photos they took of my version of Susan’s Duo Earrings

I had so much fun making them, and all of the other projects in the book are so inspiring too!

The beauty of the book is that all of the different takes on each project show you how to use whatever materials you have to make something wonderful. To celebrate the release of the book on March 25th, I made yet another version of the duo earring that I’d like to give away! I’m almost all out of beachy charms, so these ones are made with antique glass leaf and flower pendants that I got in Venice many years ago

Just leave a comment on this post and I’ll pick a winner on the book’s release date, March 25th. In the meantime, you can preorder the book at Taunton, Amazon or your favorite bookstore! And if you’re in the Portland, OR area, be sure to mark your calendar for Susan’s reading at downtown Powell’s on April 7th at 7:30pm!

I’ve never liked the expression “spoiled rotten,” mostly because I’ve been fortunate to be treated very well by my family and my friends, and I hope it hasn’t made me too rotten. I know other people, too, who I’d consider pretty fortunate who are also grateful for everything they’ve been given. So, I go for spoiled silly instead, because it is rather giddy-making to have such gloriously generous friends! Well, wee miss s. appears to be on the road to spoiled sillyness too, because look at what has come in the mail from our lovely crafty friends

A beautiful patchwork bib from the dear and talented Linda!
And super sweet Christy sent along the most insanely sweet dress bib and bloomer set

Could you pass out? I adore bloomers (even though back in the day I remember HATING to wear them).

And you know, I’ve been a bit spoiled myself. Want to guess what this is?

Awwwww yeah. When craft time is limited to nap time, it helps to have the best, most efficient tools available to get the job done. I’ve already been playing with it and it is a REVELATION. More to come, and happy Saturday night to you!

I have been a huge admirer of Abigail Halpin’s work for a long time now. Back in an earlier incarnation of her website, she offered sweet screen savers, and her “Tourists” screen saver was on my work computer for literally years. I’ve also been lucky enough to acquire a number of her beautiful illustrations over the years. I was dithering about what to do with them, and finally realised they belonged in the baby’s room, so she could peer at them out of her wee peepers (for the brief moments she is awake, she does a LOT of serious looking around). So I arranged three pieces in a frame together and I love it:

Abigail recently has been making lovely tiny pendants with petite portraits in them.

The moment I saw that one on her blog I knew I *had* to have it (much as I felt about Bethany’s pillow). And lucky me, I snagged it in time! She sent it beautifully wrapped, with lovely goodies:

aside: Abigail, if you want to sell me a print of the illustration on your postcard, I would snap it up but quick, so let me know
And I put it on immediately

Hooray! Do visit Abigail’s Etsy Shop and check it out if you are as in love with her charming, whimsical aesthetic as I am!

Something else thrilling came in the mail yesterday that needs a whole post to itself, so I’ll tell you all about that tomorrow!

And now I’ll sign off with the obligatory baby picture, dressed in her tres chic petunia picklebottom onesie

Ciao!

The exciting news of the day is that the wee one’s umbilical cord finally came off, meaning she’s going to have to start feeling less fussy about costume changes, ’cause I’ve got LOTS of cute outfits for her to wear! For her inaugural onesie, I popped her into one that I embroidered with a pattern from the Wee Wonderfuls Acorn Fairy Stitchette:

As you can see, she is *very* excited about it.

A silly baby story before I leave you to your Saturday. Moondoggie’s brother and sister-in-law gave us a sling for a baby gift, which is the best thing ever. I use it pretty much every day, and it is such an efficient way to tote her around (no bumping all over the place with a stroller), plus she totally chills out in there. This is what she looks like on the go

Except it isn’t always what I’d consider to be warm enough for her, so I’ll put on one of my maternity hoodies and zip it up over her. I’ve had more people say “Oh! Any time now, huh?” at which point I’ll unzip and say, “No! She’s already here!” Ok, maybe that isn’t so funny, but it always gives me a little giggle! I’m also considering using these directions to try making my own sling– it would be fun to have more than one of them in different fabrics!

And for something actually funny, head over here which I found via Anne. Both hilarious and frighteningly accurate (even as it describes things I like- Study Abroad, Graduate School, Musical Comedy and Bottles of Water).

Oh my. Being not in a state to craft, I find myself all the more excited about other people’s amazing creative endeavors. And about acquiring them for myself. I’ve done some etsy shopping recently and my first score just arrived today:

A FANTASTIC pillow from Bitter Betty Industries. The embroidery on the thrifted panel is incredible– I can’t imagine how anyone could let it go! And the pillow Bethany made it into? So soft and cozy and awesome (I love the faux bois fabric frame). I knew the minute I saw it in her photostream on Flickr that I had to have it, and it is even better in person than my already feverish imaginings. I’m putting it on the bed in the craft room (aka the guest room where my mother is sleeping) to look at whenever I feel like I don’t know what I’m doing as a mom. And maybe to hug every now and then.

Bethany, sweet thing that she is, also included a beautiful gift for the wee one, which as you can see she really likes:

I snagged a few more handmade wonders that I’ll share with you as they roll in. In the meantime, do head over to Bethany’s shop– my pillow, like all of her whimsical treasures, was one of a kind, but there is PLENTY more over there to tempt you.

Hello There! So, it has been a little over a week that I’ve been a mom, and it is pretty great most of the time. I promise this is not going to become exclusively a mommy blog (not that there is anything wrong with mommy blogs! they are awesome.), but of necessity it will have to become the craft blog of a mommy. The most crafty thing I’ve done since wee miss S was born is Babygami, which is genius.

But I’m trying to keep up with at least some things crafty–the iphone is my lifeline!
*If you haven’t already, you can apply to be a vendor at the awesome Bazaar Bizarre Maker Faire until March 12! There were so many fantastic, creative vendors there last year, it was really hard to control myself. Hopefully the wee will be a good sport and come with me for just a few hours.
*Have you seen the magazine Craft Stylish? It is published by the same brilliant minds behind Sew Stylish, and of course Threads. I recently got my hands on the latest issue and there is so much inspiration in there! I’m particularly excited to make the knit fabric wrap cardigan… Oh! And I also learned that despite what I thought, Sew Stylish did NOT go away! It still exists, just on newsstands and no longer by subscription, phew! I love the magazine, and their companion Simplicity patterns.

I’ve also had the opportunity to appreciate some of the handmade baby gifts I’ve received. Did you know that you can’t put a baby in a onesie until after their little umbilical cord stub falls off their bellybutton? Yeah. So poor wee S has been in t-shirts and diapers almost exclusively, and unable to wear any of her stylish little duds yet. However, I’ve been swaddling her in her Little Snuggle Bunny flannel blankets, which are highly cute.

They are double sided, so not only are they warm, but when you fold over the top of the blanket, it shows a sweet complimentary fabric. So when I take her out, she’s in the pink of fashion.

She is also totally enamored of the scrumptious cuddly blanket Shelly made for her

Which is this squidgy pink goodness on one side, and an elegant cherry blossom print satin on the other.

I’m definitely starting to feel more rested and myself, which of course means crafty plans are bubbling in my brain again! Hopefully we’ll work out the eating and nap schedule here soon so I can get in a little bit of sewing once in awhile

She’s here!

The best craft project ever! Finished two weeks ahead of schedule

She was born on the 24th at 5:18am, weighs in at 6lbs7oz and is 18 inches long. As predicted, she got here before I finished her quilted wall hanging! Hopefully I’ll get it done before she goes to college.

It may be quiet around here for a bit as we all get used to each other, but I’ll be checking blogs when I can, posting endless baby pics to flickr, and planning post baby crafts between
naps!

I got to spend a super-fun morning with Natalie and Lulu yesterday, filming today’s CRAFT:Video Pattern Podcast. In it I demonstrate a super easy and quick zipper pouch made out of the leg of an old pair of jeans, based on a project in my book Jeaneology! I know many of you are advanced seamsters, but please go check it out (if nothing else, you might get a laugh from my goofy facial expressions), and perhaps send it along to a sewing novice you think might enjoy it! If you’ve come here from CRAFT:, welcome and thank you so much for visiting!